Zayn Malik's '#FreePalestine' tweet causes disappointment among fans

Zayn Malik is causing quite a stir as the boy band member tweeted late Sunday, “#FreePalestine,” and is now receiving abusive tweets in response from fans.

The tweet reached his 13 million followers and now a section of them have been tweeting back to air their disappointment to the popular star reports IB Times. One twitter wrote, “U have fans in #Israel. It broke me that one of my idols want me to die @benwinstone @harry_styles @onedirection [sic]," while another said, “I will understand if he said 'free gaza from Hamas' but support of Palestine means he actually rather me 2 die.”

This could cause trouble for the singer with his groups manager considering Simon Cowell donated $150,000 to the Friends of the Israel Defence Forces just last year. Yet Malik is not the first to speak out on this topic as Rihanna and Dwight Howard, of the NBA Houston Rockets, tweeted the same message but have since deleted their tweets.

Not everyone is reacting negatively though as BBC News reports as some fans supported his political statement. One fan wrote, “One Direction's @ZaynMalik tweets #FreePalestine. Who needs Justin Bieber,” and another said, “I am so proud of you.”

Many wonder if Malik will delete the tweet but as of right now it can still be seen on his page.